Author: Pham Thu Hien
AIT Library Call Number: AIT Thesis no.GD-01-06
Year: 2001
Academic Program: Gender and Development Studies (GDS)
Type: Thesis (M.Sc.) – Asian Institute of Technology, 2001
Examination Committee: Kyoko Kusakabe (Chairperson); Bernadette P. Resurreccion, Sununta Siengthai (Examination Committee Members)
Abstract: One of the results of economic restructuring in Vietnam is emergence of the private sector and retrenchment of the state sector. This has facilitated rapid growth of small and medium enterprises that have absorbed a large number of women laborers. Creation of employment for women is regarded as a positive change brought by the economic restructuring. However, patterns of women’s employment and their conditions of work are influenced by social and economic policy transformation and changes in operations of enterprises. By interviewing 46 women workers in a state enterprise and two private enterp1ises, the study aims to examine women’s working conditions in different types of enterprises and the reasons behind their unsecure conditions. In order to highlight their working conditions 14 men are included in the survey for comparison. The methodology of the study employed is exploratory. The respondents in this survey engage in 4 different sections of work. Results of the survey shows that in general, working conditions in the state enterprise are found to be better than in private enterprises. However, it should be noted that in some aspects, working conditions in the state enterprise are also as unfavorable as in private ones. Better working conditions in the state enterprise are explained by factors concerning performance of the enterprise and worker socio- economic conditions. Both these agents are impacted by a new mechanism imposed by economic restructuring. While both men and women workers live and work in the same changing economic system, working conditions of women workers, especially migrant ones, are increasingly deteriorated. Traditional perceptions of women’s and men’s capacity and roles ( i.e gender division of labor) confines women to certain type of work within the same enterprise that is valued less than technical jobs. Women workers’ Low income and lack of technical training result from these traditional biases. Women’s biological reproduction and social reproduction functions make them more vulner
Scholarship Donor(s): The Government of Japan
Note: A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development
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